Alim McNeill 'Losing Sleep' Over Struggles, Eager for Success in 2026

The Detroit Lions are hoping for a return to form from defensive tackle Alim McNeill.

After suffering a late-season injury in 2024, McNeill was unable to go through training camp and missed the start of the 2025 season. He returned in Week 7, but was unable to return to his peak form after missing such a significant amount of time.

The struggles last season, both personally and the team, have been eating at the player as he prepares for the upcoming campaign. He's been trying to block out the bad memories, instead electing to focus on what's ahead.

“I don’t think about last year, so yeah, one thousand percent," McNeill said. "I don’t remember last year. I don’t want to think about last season. One thousand percent. I’ve been losing sleep over it.”

Reflecting on the season, McNeill noted that it took time to get comfortable again mentally and physically after the injury. As he logged more time, eventually he started to feel more on track mentally.

Now, he feels like he is closer to the best version of himself with organized team activities beginning this week.

“I felt like me personally, mentally and everything, it’s just how the body works," McNeill explained. "It takes time for stuff to come back a little bit, and some stuff just was not there no matter how hard I tried to do certain stuff. It just wasn’t there yet. It’s here now. I’m not thinking about last year at all, honestly.”

He's been able to get back into his routine this offseason, with the ability to work out allowing him to stay conditioned. McNeill is also back in sync with his diet and sleep, allowing him to be in peak form with the season fast approaching.

“Yeah, I’m me again, now. Explosive, and being able to do what I need to do, yeah," McNeill said. "It’s a night and day difference between last year and now.”

Humbling 2025 season

As a team, the Lions experienced a step back in 2025. After winning consecutive NFC North titles the previous years, Detroit fell to the bottom of the North as a tough schedule and a number of injuries limited their consistency.

Now, there is a renewed focus at team headquarters starting with head coach Dan Campbell. The team has gone about their business in a workmanlike fashion, and as a result they have high expectations.

While entering a season requires a level of focus every year, McNeill noted that the humbling nature of the season added fuel to their competitive fire.

“It just humbled us in a way. That was gonna be our focus regardless, whether we won the Super Bowl or we didn’t," McNeill said. "We were gonna come back, we were gonna be ready to go this year regardless. But yeah, one thousand percent, it just added that much more motivation. We know what type of players we have, we know what type of coaches we have. We have high standards for ourselves here, and we just didn’t live up to that, but we’re going to. I’m not worried about that.”

No doubts about return to form

In 2023, McNeill made a claim to be a top option for Detroit's defense. He continued that in 2024, playing at a Pro Bowl level before suffering his season-ending knee injury.

Much of McNeill's success is centered around his explosiveness and physicality, which was sapped as he rehabbed the injury.

Now that he's back in routine, McNeill is being intentional with his offseason routine with the hopes of returning to a dominant level of production.

“My focal point this offseason is what it has been every offseason," McNeill stated. "When I had my better year in ’23, when I went into that year, it was just to be that dynamic, explosive player that I know I can be. That’s what I’ve been working on this offseason, and I feel amazing. I don’t have any doubts about that.”

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